For All Nails #21?: Travelin' Band
A Samuel Adams Brotherhood compound
South of Eaton (1), NY, NC, CNA
Oct. 14, 1975
2:20 PM
Brian Donaldson walked into what passed as a den in
the Black Rock compound. _Or at least what passes for
it now_, he thought. The compound they were in had
originally been the alternate site. But after that
CBI agent had been taken care of, it became the
primary one. (2) They still had not quite made the
place home like the old one had been. Donaldson was
pondering whether to look into getting another one
nearer the city limits, so that the assorted
Brotherhood members could get to it better. _But not
too close_, he reminded himself. The isolation also
had its advantages.
Harold Pickett was reading in a chair. "Ah, Harold,
just the man I was looking for," Brian said. He
looked at Harold's book. "_Vlad Tepes_? Nice
allegory. A strong Jeffersonian message. But I found
the tone a little gloomy. All those nocturnal
bloodsucking monsters. And if you aren't familiar
with events in Britain the last few years, you don't
really get the full impact of it." (3)
Pickett slipped a piece of blank paper in the book and
closed it. "What do we need, Brian?"
"I came to let you know you're gonna need to pack,"
Brian told him. "We're going on a road trip down
south to Virginia to talk with some friends. Just the
two of us. Some planning for the revolution whenever
the time is right, although we could both be dead of
old age. This has always been a long-term mission in
my view, but others in the movement aren't as patient.
I think I'm losing that fight sometimes."
"Virginia? I thought the movement didn't do well in
the SC," Harold replied in a surprised tone.
"You'd think, wouldn't you? Back during the
Trans-Oceanic War-", Brian cut himself off and walked
over to the bookshelf. He wasn't sure if the book he
wanted was even there. Some personal items, nothing
incriminating anyone of course, had had to be left
behind at the other compound earlier in the year. The
books on the shelf were only about two-thirds of what
there had been.
There it was, sandwiched between _Michael Ralls: His
Films, His Life_ (4) and John Hatfield's published
journals covering his service in the Great Northern
War and Hundred Day War. (5) Brian pulled out a book
entitled _The People We Left Behind: The Remnant in
the CNA_ by Ralph Ocon. "Ever read this?" At
Harold's head-shake, Brian handed it to him. "Thought
maybe you had; it's a Mexican book. Look at it on the
trip down. Ocon can explain it better than I can.
It's 17 years old by now, but he gets the history
spot-on." (6)
The next day
On the road in western Pennsylvania
10:00 AM
Harold looked up from the Ocon book to listen to the
sounddisk Brian had put in. It was something new by a
New Orleans group called the Revivers.
Just got home from Indiana
Saw my girl Gloriana
Got to sit down
Take a rest in my chair
Imagination gets me
Pretty soon I can see
Doo doo doo checking out my back yard
Harold tapped his foot lightly in time to the rest of
the song while Brian drove. He went back to the book,
which was talking about the Virginians who'd moved to
the western parts of the state after the failed
Franco-Spanish invasion in the Trans-Oceanic War. The
French and Spanish had hoped to gain aid from
disgruntled locals in capturing the area, but the
landing never came through. He finished that section,
and was reading the chapter on New England in the
1800s when Brian pulled in to a station for vulcazine.
It was time to switch drivers.
They got on the MacAdam again. Brian said to him, "So
what do you think?"
"Well, he does seem to have a good grip on history.
I'm only up to the 19th century, so I don't know about
beyond that yet." Harold paused, lost in thought.
"How long are we expecting to be in Virginia, anyway?"
he asked.
"I think we should be back in a week. In time to
catch the Swords opener," Donaldson told him. As if
it reminded him, Brian reached back to grab the sports
section of the _Black Rock Courier_ they'd brought
along. The lead story was about Pierre Gilbert's
excellent recovery from the broken left hand he had
suffered in the finals last year. This season looked
to be good.
1. OTL Frewsburg, NY.
2. See FAN #160.
3. See FAN #209.
4. Ralls was one of the CNA's legendary early film
actors.
5. See FAN #190.
6. Ocon's book came out in 1959. See Sobel's
bibliography.